Enuresis bed pad



June 30, 1953 H. w. SEIGER 2,644,050

ENURESIS BED PAD Filed Dec. 27, 1951 iP-aented June 30, 1953 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE ENURESIS BED PAD Harry Wright Seiger, Santa Monica, Calif.

Application December 2'7, 1951, Serial No. 263,640

4 Claims. 1

This invention is an enuresis bed pad of the general type shown in Patent No. 2,127,538, and in application Ser. No. 219,960.

The purposes of this invention are, in part, to provide a pad'of the kind stated and which has for end results the long life of the pad and greater sensitivity of the electrode area by arranging certain electrode units and'their terminals in such juxtaposition as to effect electric current flow between the units as well as between teeth of combs arranged in pairs in each unit; and further to obtain a manufacturally practical pad by utilizing a few elongate and relatively narrow comb units.

And additionally, an intent is to provide a pad in which the units are themselves separated laterally to give a desired degree of flexibility to the pad so that it will concavely flex and thus reduce the flexing of the metallic combs to reduce hazard of fracture of the small teeth of the combs.

The invention resides in certain features of advance in this art as set forth in the ensuing disclosure and has, with the above, additional objects and advantages as hereinafter developed, and whose constructions, combinations and details of means, and manner of operation will be made manifest in the following description of the herewith illustrative embodiment; it being understood that modifications, variations, adaptions and equivalents may be resorted to within the scope, spirit and principles of the invention as it is claimed in conclusion hereof.

Figure l is a broken-away plan view of the bad.

Figure 2 is a partly sectioned edge view of the pad, on line 2-2, Fig. 1.

The instant invention includes a generally flat, thin, waterproof, electro-insulative pad body I0, of rubber other adaptable material. There is embedded in the top face of the pad a generally rectangular system of thin, sheet metal, electrical conductors forming separated electrodes C and C intergrouped in pairs and forming a unit in which the electrodes are of comb form in plan with the teeth intermeshed and coplanar. 1

To facilitate make-up of such a pad it is desirable to keep the number of units to a minimum and yet obtain a pad area of such plan size as t be practicable for use under large bodied bed occupantsthat is considerably larger than babies.

Reference is made to the said patent for constructional details and the electrical hook-up as to one double comb pad.

To greatly reduce the cost of labor in handling the delicate teeth of the combs and especially bedding them in the pad each unit CC' is substantially as long as the pad and relatively narrow so that the transverse teeth of the combs are not objectionably long and difiicult to bed down. Such a long unit has the advantage that the comb has a single, long backbone B from which the teeth project laterally. It is found that by arranging four of such units in close parallel juxtaposition the backbones of adjacent units are of opposite electric polarity.

Therefore by arranging the long backbones in parallel and in proximity the urinic fluid bridging the gap between the backbones can and does close the electrical circuit and gives the ultimate signal.

The consequence is that there is no loss of signalling area anywhere within the over-all area of the combined electrode units, and still there is had capacity for the bed material to bend down between the juxtaposed units.

Combs of like polarity are connected by common current supply limbs L, all leading to a signal circuit S.

What is claimed is:

1. A urine controlled signal device of the kind set forth and including an insulative, waterproof bed pad, of flexible material, and a plurality of units each of elongated, oblong form in plan; each unit consisting of a pair of comblike electrodes with their teeth intermeshed and the elongate backbone portion of the combs of the units being parallel in adjacent units and spaced to provide flexibility of the pad and reduce hazardous flexure of the teeth of the combs and in close proximity.

2. The device of claim 1: the close backbones of the units being of opposite polarity so that bridging urine will close a circuit from unit to unit.

3. The device of claim 1: the like-pole back bones of the system of units being connected to common circuit limbs.

4. The device of claim 1: the teeth of the system of electrodes all being transverse to the length of the associated units.

HARRY WRIGHT SEIGER.

Homan' July 12, 1921 Seiger Aug. 23, 1938 Number 

